


Desperate

by MJosephine10



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars: Sequel Trilogy - Fandom
Genre: F/M, we’re just letting the ideas flow here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 03:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20464628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MJosephine10/pseuds/MJosephine10
Summary: At last the dam breaks.





	Desperate

There was no sound except that of the low sizzle and snap of lightsabers crossing each other in combat- rhythmic strokes, equally matched, forceful but never deadly- and of their labored but steady breathing.

Neither met the other’s gaze and together they sunk into the stubborn furrows and clean lines of a fight they knew so well it was practically a dance.

Until-

Rey broke first.

“Why”

She snarled the word, holding her lightsaber down at a sharp downward angle without shutting it off.

“Why”

The word came in a gasp now, low and raspy. She held her free hand to her side like she’d been wounded.

“Why what?”

His voice was gentle. Unlike Rey, he shut his lightsaber fully off.

“Why.....”

She struggled for air and shook her head furiously, like she was fighting herself, before it came out.

“Why did you leave me?”

It came out in a half-sob, half-gasp.

His entire body tightened like a bowstring. Then a wave—shock and sorrow blended—rolled over him.

He took a step towards her.

“Rey, I-“

She backed away from him.

“Stay away from me.”

It was the snarl again.

He stopped.

She threw her lightsaber away from her and it landed with a sizzle, gleaming icy blue in the snow. There was no sound but her breathing, grown rough and ragged now.

And that’s when it happened.

She began to cry. Great jagged sobs that came from deep inside of her. Like they were being torn out of her. 

She fell to her knees and pressed her hands to her face. 

She struggled briefly, iron discipline of her hands against the swell of emotion in her eyes, but the emotion won out in the end.

She wept as if she had never wept in her life before and was making up for lost time. She cried like a child or a wild animal in pain.

He was frozen to the spot in horror. He could make no motion except to throw away his weapon too.

He threw it farther than she had—it landed a few feet from hers and was quickly buried in the snow.

He took another step towards her.

He waited.

Rey signaled no knowledge of his presence. She was lost, drowning in her own tears. She saw nothing.

He took another step.

No response.

And then another.

The forest itself seemed to grow still except for Rey’s sobs.

And then-

In one motion he moved towards her, leaned over her and swept her up in his arms.

In his arms, she held herself as though he wasn’t holding her, arms locked across her chest, her body hunched in to protect itself.

He shifted her weight a little in his arms but then grew still. Only standing holding her in the middle of the forest under the light of the forest moons.

Time seemed to stop.

Then- in a lull of the waves and sobs, she unloosened her arms and held them in front of her stiff as boards. But another sob wasn’t long in rising in her chest and, it threatening to knock her over, out of the sheer and instinctive need for balance, she wrapped them around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder.

He stood still and quiet, except that he rocked her back and forth gently and buried his face in the folds of her hair. 

Through the force- as steady as his inward shaking heart could make it- Ben breathed. 

_I’m_ _here._

Rey, blinded by tears, only felt a darkness envelope her- not the savage darkness of old that came to tear her to pieces on nights when the hunger kept her awake but something warm and soft.

And safe.

Without knowing what she did she sank into it.

It held her fast and close until she fell asleep.


End file.
